Today in the video we reviewed Deuteronomy 6:1-6 and Luke 6:46-49. In your own words, briefly summarize what these verses mean.

What are the ingredients of a strong foundation?(hint – there are 3 mentioned in the video)

Review the Scriptures that discuss why suffering is part of our journey as a parent: 1 Peter 4:16, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalm 127:1, and 2 Peter 1:1-4. Write out your prayer to the Lord and ask Him to help you to accept His plan in these difficult times. Also write out your commitment to look to Him daily for the grace to love and serve your children according to His will.

1. Deuteronomy 6:1-6 talks about how we are to not only obey the words of the Lord but to also teach them to our children and that when we listen to the Lord and pass on what he tells us to our young ones He will be faithful to bless us.

Luke 6:46-49 tells us that in order for us to have a strong foundation that will withstand the trials of this life we need to come to the Lord, listen to Him and obey the things He tells us to do. If we don’t do those things we will never have a foundation strong enough to hold us up when the storms of life come against us.

2. Come to Him – accepting Jesus as our savior, Hear His sayings – abide in a relationship with Him and obey Him – apply His word in our lives

3. Lord, Thank You so much that Your mercies are new every morning!! There are so many mistakes that I have made in my short time as a mother and I am so grateful that You are willing to not give up on me and to continue to perfect the work You have started in me. Thank You that Your word is all-sufficient and has an answer for every problem that we face. I am very aware of my lack when it comes to being a good parent. There is still so much that I need to learn and so much inside of me that needs to be changed or fixed. I pray that You would help me to continue to recognize when I am lacking and when I do things that dishonor You or are not edifying to my daughter or others. Help me to become the mother and woman of God that you have called me to be. I know that I can not make these changes in myself but that You can as long as I am willing to trust You. Thank you for the trials that You have given me and for giving me a daughter that is a perfect match to what you want to change and develop in me.

Parent’s Commitment To Put Jesus Christ First In Your Life
HOMEWORK
Perhaps you have struggled in some areas of parenting and have come to realize that your struggles are a result of a weak or inconsistent spiritual life. God promises to bless, encourage, and strengthen us as we submit to His lordship in our life.

“The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with
peace.” Psalm 29:11

Write a prayer to the Lord, committing to put Him first in your life and asking Him to help you
parent the gifts (children) He has given you.

Perhaps you have never surrendered your life to Christ. Know that God loves you
and has provided the way for you to have a relationship with Him. You must simply,
1. Recognize and admit you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”

2. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that He is the only way for
sinners to be forgiven and reconciled to God.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me.”
Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.”

3. Confess your sins to Jesus and repent (be sorry), asking Him to forgive you.
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

4. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and receive Him as your Savior and Lord.
John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children
of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Repeat the following prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. Thank you for dying on the
cross for me and paying the price for my sin. Please come into my heart. Fill me with your
Holy Spirit and help me to be your disciple. Thank you for forgiving me and coming into my
life. Thank you that I am now a child of God and will one day follow you to heaven.” Amen

How to Develop Intimacy with God Through Daily Devotions
HOMEWORK
• Intimacy – Marked by very close association, contact, or friendship developing through
long association; very familiar; suggesting informal warmth or privacy; of a very personal
nature.

1. Choose the best time of day (morning or evening) to commit to setting aside devotional
time. Don’t set yourself up for discouragement by setting a goal that you will not be able
to keep. Start small, and then add time as you grow. Begin with 15 minutes.

2. Choose a book of the Bible. Read one chapter, or less if it is a long chapter or verses
that you want to ponder. In addition, you may also want to read a daily devotional. See
suggestions listed below.

3. Pray. Specifically pray over the truths you have read, asking God to speak to you about
how you can obey; what you should do or what you should change in your life in order to
obey.

4. Spend a few minutes in quiet listening. This may be uncomfortable for you at first.
Living in a noise-filled world, most of us are not accustomed to sitting quietly. Persevere
and God will be faithful to speak to you. Remember that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in
your heart and mind and can minister to you in your thoughts!

5. Journal. Write out what these verses mean to you.
• Journal – A record of experiences, ideas, or reflections kept regularly for private use.

6. Pray. Use the following to help you pray effectively:
Adoration – Worship and praise God
Confession – Confess and repent of any known sins
Thanksgiving – Expressing gratitude for God’s blessings in your life
Supplication – Humbly make requests for your needs and the needs of others

7. Pray that God will help you to know and acknowledge His presence throughout your day.

Suggested Devotionals
Biblical Principles for a Strong Foundation, by Craig Caster
Daily Experience with God, by Andrew Murray
Drawing Near: Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith, by John F. MacArthur
Every Day with Jesus: First Steps with New Believers, by Greg Laurie
Experiencing God, by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King
Meet the Bible: A Panorama of God’s Word…, by Philip Yancey and Brenda Quinn
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
On the Other Side of the Garden, by Virginia Ruth Fugate (married women)
Streams in the Desert, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
The One Year Book of Psalms, by William J. Peterson and Randy Petersen
The Power of a Praying Wife, by Stormie Omartian (married women)

My notes are as follows – (some wont make sense if you didn’t watch the video)

God looks at our individual child just as much as His entire church. My child is uniquely special to the Lord.

Just like my child is special to the Lord, so am I! I need to make sure that I am spending time with Him every day.

In Deut. 6 God reveals how important it is for us to maintain that relationship – it was life or death for the Israelites!

We must choose to have an intimate relationship with the lord – DAILY! (Duet 6:5)

We need to obey Him and abide in Him (Duet 6:6)

Most christians don’t realize there is more to our relationship with God than just going to church on sunday and praying from time to time.

What is a foundation? What does it look like? There are 3 ingredients –

1. accepting Jesus as our savior “come to me”

2. abiding in Him – relationship “hear my sayings” (can’t hear him if we don’t spend time with Him!) and

3. obey – apply His word in our lives “do them”

What is my “relationship grade?”

Have I been saved? Yes

How is my prayer life? (read Phil 4:6) – I would call my prayer life “growing”

Do I spend time daily reading the word of God? (read mark 4:34, 2 Tim 2:15) – off and on 😦 I try but something always seems to get in the way

Do I give tithes regularly and according to Gods word? (Prov 3:9-10) YES!

What are my priorities? Are they Godly? (1 Cor 14:40, 1 Tim 3:1-13) Currently my priorities are skewed =/ they tend to go – child, work, responsibilities, worries then try to squeeze God in 😦

Do I practice Godly principles in my home? (Gal 5:22-23) I try very hard

I need to remember that God is my Daddy and I am allowed to get excited about spending time with Him

God is excited about spending time with me!!!

Ignore the distractions and do what I was created to do – spend time with God! Everything else stems from that relationship and can only be as fulfilling and strong as my relationship with the Lord is.

If there is anything that has a higher priority that God – I am the one who will suffer and so will my child

Most christians focus on the third ingredient – obey – without realizing that it is the “abiding” aspect that gives us the strength to obey – when we try to obey without a relationship with the one we are trying to obey chances are we are going to fail.

Rebellion = Doing things my own way, or prioritizing what is most important to us and not to God.

How rebellious am I?

Are my first thoughts of the day focused on Him? No- I am usually thinking about and dreading all the things I have to get done in the next 12 hours or all the things that I am lacking

Do I daily acknowledge how much I need Him? Yes – I am very aware of my weakness and lack of discipline – doesn’t mean that I am smart enough to go to Him for help daily! >.< Even knowing how frail I am I still feel like I have to do things on my own in order to please Him.

Do I put God first and maintain relationship with him? Honestly – no 😦

God knows the trials we will have to go through in our lives when we face a new struggle we can immediately go to Him for direction – He already knows the solution!

He uses those trials to transform us but we will only be transformed if we are willing to look to Him to find out how we should respond to those trials and ask for forgiveness for the times we fail. We have to be willing to admit we are wrong and not strong enough to obey without His help! If we don’t do this we will stay stuck repeating the same kinds of trials over and over as the Lord tries to get through to us.

Jesus sent His disciples out onto the water when He knew that a storm was coming – God sends us into storms too! Then Jesus walked on what they feared the most – the water they did not want to drown in! By doing that He was showing them that he was more powerful than what they feared! God is stronger than our greatest fears too!

the journey of transformation will last until we die. We should never stop growing

God will foil the best of plans if He is left out of them – He is more interested in the relationship than the plans

satan uses our responsibilities and worries to distract us from spending time with the One who can help us get through them all.

I am going to list the questions first for those of you that are wanting to follow along but don’t have the time/means to print the work book out on your own. Then I will list my answers as an example or something for you to think about as you come up with your own answers for those of you that don’t have the time to sit down and write them out on your own.

Write out in your own words how seeing your role as a minister changes your perspective as a parent.

How does being a minister affect you as a father and mother (if married) when it comes to how to handle the raising of your children?

What are God’s purposes for parents? (hint – there were 4 mentioned in my notes)

Make a list of non-glorifying behaviors that God is revealing in you through the trials and/or difficulties in raising your children. Example: impatience, resentfulness, etc.

If married, discuss these things as a couple, then together take them to the Lord. Ask for His forgiveness and for the ability to take responsibility every time these things are manifested through you. Ask for the faith to trust His way in bringing about your transformation. REMEMBER: there is no growth or transformation taking place if you do not ask for forgiveness…every time.

I already knew that being a godly parent was a ministry/responsibility given by the Lord. It was, however, very encouraging to hear my beliefs being confirmed by not only someone wiser and more experienced than myself but also to be able to see it in the Bible as well. My new verse of the week – Genesis 18:19 -(God speaking about Abraham) “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

Being aware that the Lord is holding me accountable for my actions towards raising my daughter puts more importance to my daily choices, it motivates me to do my work well so that when the Lord looks at what I have done He will be pleased with not only me but my daughter as well.

Our transformation, God’s glorification, to love our children and to train our children.

Love, thank You for helping me find this bible study and giving me the means to share it with others. Thank You for the work You are going to do in me through this study. I pray for any one that takes this ten-day challenge – I pray that You would help them to remember the things they learn in Your word and be able to apply it in their lives. I pray a special blessing over them and their families, that You would pour out Your love and Holy Spirit on them and give them the strength to allow transformation to take place in their hearts and homes. I lift this list of mine up to You and ask for Your forgiveness. Please help me to recognize and take responsibility every time I allow these things to be present in my life and in my relationship with my daughter. I especially ask that You help me to put realistic expectations on my daughter and not my selfish ones. Help me to have patience with her and to remember that she is, in fact, only 3. Help me to trust You and allow You to transform me.

I encourage you to take a look and come up with some notes of your own! Don’t forget to download the free work book so you can follow along!

My notes for the video are as follows –

Who taught me to be a parent? – In most cases we take the good, bad and ugly experiences from our past to formulate our ideas of parenting based on our personalities. We think – well as long as I try to do better than my parents my kids will at least turn out as good as me.

Less than 11% of christians believe that the bible teaches on how to be a parent and raising children

We can’t just let each day slip by flying by the seat of our pants hoping everything turns out ok. We have to lean on the Lord and look to His word to help shape our children. This is such an important task – we can not leave it up to chance.

Often our selfish expectations get in the way of us being able to be good stewards of our children. We want them to act or behave in a certain way and react out of anger towards them when they don’t, often times over issues that do not upset the Lord. (I have been very guilty of this just recently) >.<

A minister according to webster is: One who acts under the order of another (the Lord) or who is employed by another (the parents I work for) to execute his purposes.

Who are we executing purposes over? the children! All parents and child care providers are ministers!

God uses our kids to transform us and perfect us! He uses their trials and struggles to draw out of us the things that he wants to change in us allowing us to be a better image of him.

when we are not grounded in the Lord and leaning on HIm we are prone to react out of anger, frustration and out of the flesh towards our children rather than in a way that would glorify the Lord

We are supposed to be an example of God to them at home and in public.

Why did Moses not get to enter the promised land? Because as minister to millions of people he allowed himself to react out of his emotions, anger, and flesh rather than how the Lord asked him to. God was not angry with the people for whining he was willing to give them the water from the rock but by the time Moses made it to the rock he had allowed himself to become angry with his flock of children and misrepresented the Lord to them. – Moses put his selfish expectations on the people rather than letting God do the work in them.

God mentions “fatherless” children 41 times and “widows” 74 times – His heart is upon single parent families!

The word widow used in the old testament does not only mean a woman whose husband has died it simply means – a woman who is lacking a husband – in this since I would be considered a widow…..I can think of a bunch of wonderful old testament scriptures I am now included in ❤

Verses of the Week!

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT